Thursday, September 25, 2008

Sons of Anarchy - Recap & Review - Patchover

Sons of Anarchy“Patchover”

Original Air Date: Sept 24, 2008

Tom R - TwoCents Staff Writertom@thetwocents.com

A noticeable improvement over last week. This is much closer to the show I expected and hoped for. The balance between action and introspection is much more effective, and the performances are sharper. More characters are introduced, and the other SAMCRO members have more to do, which breaks things up nicely. (Kudos in particular to Mark Boone Junior as Bobby, reluctantly starting to walk a line between Clay and Jax.) They definitely got the show on the road. Literally.

4 comments:

A noticeable improvement over last week. This is much closer to the show I expected and hoped for. The balance between action and introspection is much more effective, and the performances are sharper. More characters are introduced, and the other SAMCRO members have more to do, which breaks things up nicely. (Kudos in particular to Mark Boone Junior as Bobby, reluctantly starting to walk a line between Clay and Jax.) They definitely got the show on the road. Literally.

OK, so what is a “patchover”? Apparently, that is where one club is rolled into a more established club. In this case, the Devil’s Tribe in Indian Hills, NV becomes another chapter of the Sons of Anarchy, or as Clay puts it, they “earn the Reaper”. The patchover becomes necessary when Clay determines that the Tribe can help store their stolen guns following the destruction of their warehouse in the pilot episode. On the road to making first contact, Jax confides in Bobby that he has reservations about the patchover, but Bobby advises him to stop second-guessing Clay.

On the way to Indian Hills, Jax and Bobby stop for gas. While they are inside, a local sits on Jax’s bike so his girlfriend Susie can take a picture. Jax not only takes offense, but notices that Susie has a busted lip, which her boyfriend does not even try to deny. He and Bobby beat the guy up and offer Susie a ride to Nevada. Once there, she is given a kind of orientation by a girl named Terri. But after seeing Terri offered to Clay, and after the shootout with the Mayans, Susie rides off with someone else, presumably back to the life she wanted to leave. At the end of the episode, Tara is sent a photo of Jax with Susie.

Like I said, there are more scenes given to the lower-level SAMCRO members this week. That really helps. Back in Charming, Tig and Juice steal a truck to transport the guns. But when Tig tells Juice to drug the guard dog, he doesn’t say what kind of drug, and Juice slips the Doberman some meth, which makes it more aggressive, and it attacks Tig.

As Tara leaves for work, she finds rose petals on her car. Unnerved, she returns to the house and finds an old gun, slipping it into her handbag. She then brings an older car to Jax for service, although it’s clear she’s looking for him to protect her. Gemma offers her a ride, and while Tara is distracted, she finds the gun in her purse. When Gemma return her car, she also gives her an untraceable gun that she can use in emergencies. She uses contacts to find out more about Tara, coming up with the restraining order. The order, however, does not reveal the name.

The narrative thread of the writings by Jax’s father continues to be a strong point, particularly in this episode, where it directs Jax to quotes written on a wall outside of Indian Hills. The quotes by Emma Goldman focus on the subject of anarchy, and seem to tie into the origins and initial vision of SAMCRO.

So there’s my two cents…What you think? Drop them in the comments or drop me a line at: tom@thetwocents.com .

From my understanding of it, a "patchover" is literally putting another club's "patch" or emblem over your own club's patch. In other words, the Devil's Tribe jackets the members were wearing become Sons of Anarchy jackets by dint of having the new patches sewn over the old. (Of course, in the show, they all got snazzy new black leather vests, but you get the idea...)